ASIA: A first trial shipment has been completed on a sea, road and rail freight corridor linking Chengdu with the Indian Ocean via Myanmar. This is intended to provide inland China with a route to and from southeast Asia which avoids China’s eastern ports.
The trial containers were transported by sea from Singapore to Yangon, and then moved by road through Myanmar to Lincang in China’s Yunnan Province, the terminus of a 200 km railway from Dali which opened last December. Rail transport from Lincang to Chengdu took three days.
The corridor reduces the end to journey time by 20 to 22 days compared to traditional sea routes, Chengdu International Railway Port told local media when the service was officially launched on August 25.
Efforts are under way to establish an economic co-operation zone at Chin Shwe Haw in Myanmar as part of Beijing’s Belt & Road Initiative.
